Vehicle sander



Sept. 19, 1950 D. A. KELLY VEHICLE SANDER Filed Dec. 5, 1948 .rlllllllf'f'll INVENTOR DANIEL A. KELLY ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 19, 1950 U'N-IT E D STAT E S PATENT OFF I CE 2,522,677 VEHICLE SANDER fi'aniel A. Kelly, Milwaukee, Wis; Application-December 3, 194a, serial-Nascent 2 Claims. 1

This invention apertains to vehicle sanding equipment, and. more particularly to a noveldeviceunder'the control of a driver of an-automobile; for automatically supplying sand in front of thewheels of the automobile on slippery pavements and roadways.

One of the" primary: objects of my invention is to provide a. device for supplying sand to a slippery roadway in front of the wheels of an automotive vehicle, embodying a hopper for the sand andl a novelliy arranged electrically operated valve for controlling the flow of sand from: the hopper;

Another salient object of my invention is to provide noveli means forarranging a control valve directly in the hopper of a sanding device, so as to obtain, as' nearly as possible, a clear path for: the Saudi to the delivery spouts, thereby causing the sand to flow more rapidly and with more velocity; so" that the sand will be spread in frontand in" close proximity to the vehicles wheelsz A further object of my" invention is tov provide, in vehicle sanding equipment, a hopper with a centrally located outlet valveand a centrally disposed protecting. tube for the operating mechanism'- ofthe valve,- thetubehaving its lower end flared outwardly above and arou r'id-ithevalve densation and to keep the sand from freezing in the-hopper in extremely cold weather.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a vehicle sandingz equipment which will be of a durable and compact order and one which wilTwork erfectivewundervarious climatic conditions.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more specifically described and claimed in the accompanying drawing, in which drawing,

Figure l is a side elevational view showing my novel sanding device incorporated with the chassis of a truck, parts of the sanding equipment being shown broken away and in section.

Figure 2 vis an: enlarged vertical sectional viewthrough the sanding equipment taken on the line 2- -2' of Figure 1, 100mg in the direction of: the" arrows;

Referring to the drawing, in d'etail whereinsimilar reference charactersdesignate corre sponding partsthroughoutthe several views, the: letter D generally: indicates my improvedsand ing device for an automotive truck or the like 'I-L? The truck- T forms no part of the present in; ventionand: only at fragment of same has been shown toillustrate the application 0t my sand ing device D thereto.

As shown, the truck T includes a chassis 5-,; having duall rear wheels 6-; Any type of body" it is mounted -upon the chassis; While I have shown my sanding device applied to a truck for therear wheels thereof,v itis to be understood, that the: same can be used with the front wheels thereof also;-

sanding: deviceincludes a hopper 8' of a suflicient size for containing a desired amount of sand or other anti-skid: material 9; The hopper preferably has its lower end tapered or of aninverted:frusto pyramidalshape, sothat the'sand in the hopper will gravitate to a central point.- There: is: a: hopperarranged on: each side of the truck in: front ofeach pair of the dual drive wheels 6, but for the sakeof simplicity I have shown the: hopperifor one side of the truckonly.

The: central portion of the tapered bottom wall Mi of the hopper 8;. is provided with an outlet opening: H, and thewall of this openingis shaped t-ciform: a valve seat. This valve seat is ofa relatively large: size so that sand can freely flowtherethrough; elommunicating; with: the valve seatand:v carried by the tapered bottom wall I It, is a pair of rearvvardly' inclined sand deliveryspouts I32 and: I532. These-spouts i2 and E3 ter-: ni-inate in close proximity',.- as is possible, to: the wheelsdirectly in front. thereof. The space between the delivery spouts; i2 and i3 at their point of-' connectionwithone another and the tapered bottom wall in, is providedtwith a5 combinatio'ri g uide-andifiuid outlet borei4-,. having-'1 a purpose-which wiil be: later: set forth-1 Secured to the top wall I5 of the hopper 8 is a centrally located protecting tube 16. The upper end of the tube projects above the top wall of the hopper and can be closed by any desired type of cap H. The tube l 6 depends downwardly from the top wall and terminates directly above the valve seat in spaced relation thereto and this lower end of the tube is outwardly flared as is shown at 18, for a purpose, which will later appear. One side wall IQ of the hopper is provided with a filling neck 20, and this neck can be closed by any preferred type of removable cap 2 I. The neck is so-arranged that the same can be easily reached from the side of the truck so as to permit the convenient filling of the hopper with sand or other desired type of abrasive granular material.

The hopper is rigidly connected in front of the wheels 6 to the chassis or other convenient part of the truck body by any desired means, such as brackets 22.

Arranged directly within the hopper 8, below the flared end [B of the tube 16, is a vertically sliding valve body or plug 23. The body of the valve is preferably tapered toward its upper end to conform to the flared end .of the tube and the lower end of the valve body is shaped to snugly fit upon the valve seat I I.

The tube It is utilized for forming a protecting housing for the operating mechanism for the valve body. This operating mechanism can include a solenoid as 24. The inner wall of the tube adjacent to its lower end can be provided with a shoulder 25, against which the solenoid is shoved. This solenoid can be inserted in the tube through the upper end opening thereof. Centrally formed on the valve body is an upwardly extending stem 26. This stem can carry thecore for the solenoid or the stem itself can form the core. An expansion spring 21 is coiled about the stem and normally urges the valve downward on its seat. Upon the energizing of the solenoid, the core or valve stem 26, and consequently, the valve body, is raised well into the flared end of the tube. This permits the free, unobstructed flow of sand from out of the hopper into delivery spouts I2 and I3, and the head of the sand gives the desired velocity thereto so that the sand will flow well back under the wheels of the truck.

The flared end [8 of the tube also functions admirably for keeping the main head of the sand off of the valve body when the valve body is in its closed position, hence the valve body can be quickly and easily raised as soon as a circuit is closed through the solenoid.

It is to be noted that the electric conduit wires 28 for the solenoid lead through a rubber grommet 29 carried by the cap I1.

It is highly desirable to prevent condensation with the tube [6 and around the valve and to keep the sand in a free flowing condition. To bring this about I have provided means for permitting the flow of heated gases through the tube, solenoid and valve. Attention is directed to the fact that the valve body 23 and its stem is provided with an axial bore 30 and that the lower end of the valve has formed thereon or is provided with a guide tube 3|, which extends into the bore. This guide tube is slidably mounted in the guide bore I4. Leading into the hopper 8 is a conduit pipe 32 and this conduit communicates with the upper end of the tube IS. The pip 32 is tapped into the exhaust pipe of the automobile or truck. Consequently, hot products of combustion from the engine of the truck will flow through the pipe 32 into the tube l6 directly through the valve body and out of the bore l4. The tube I6 is thus maintained in a hot or warm condition and the sand will be prevented from freezing and the condensing of vapors will be eliminated.

Attention is also directed to the fact that as the tube [6, the solenoid and the valve are all centrally located within the hopper, that the sand itself will form a heat insulator.

Changes in details may be made without departing from the spirit or the scope of my invention, but what I claim as new is:

1. In a sanding device for motor vehicles, a hopper having a tapered bottom provided with a centrally disposed outlet in its lower end, said outlet being provided with a valve seat, a centrally located protecting tube in said hopper extending from the top wall of the hopper downwardly toward the valve seat, the lower end of said tube being provided with an outwardly annular flared terminal arranged in close proximity to the valve seat, a valve body movable on and off the seat into the flared terminal having a valve stem, and an operating mechanism for the valve body disposed within said tube, said operating mechanism including a solenoid, and a core for said solenoid carried by the valve stem, and conduit means for circulating hot gas throughthe tube, solenoid, core and valve body.

2. In a sanding device for motor vehicles, a hopper having a tapered bottom provided with a centrally disposed outlet in its lower end, said outlet being provided with a valve seat, a centrally located protecting tube in said hopper extending from the top wall of the hopper downwardly toward the valve seat, the lower end of said tube being provided with an outwardly annular flared terminal arranged in close proximity to the valve seat, a valve body movable on and oil the seat into the flared terminal having a valve stem, and an operating mechanism for the valve body disposed within said tube, said operating mechanism including a solenoid, and a core for said solenoid carried by the valve stem, and conduit means for circulating hot gas through elements comprising the tube, solenoid, core and valve body, said elements having an axial bore therethrough.

DANIEL A. KELLY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of recordin the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,352,205 Lintern Sept. 7, 1920 1,425,575 Burton Aug. 15, 1922 1,431,307 Humphrey Oct. 10, 1922 1,765,772 Reese June 24, 1930 2,185,234 Sudbury Jan. 2, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 577 282 Germany May 27, 1933 

